Parishes adjacent to Aysgarth

Historical Descriptions

Aysgarth

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

Aysgarth Falls by Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

AYSGARTH, a township and a parish in Askrigg district, N. R. Yorkshire. The township lies on the river Ure, at the junction of Wensleydale and Bishopdale, 4 miles ESE of Askrigg, and 7½ WSW of Leyburn r. station. It has a post office under Bedale. Acres, 1,174. Real property, £1,513. Pop., 283. Houses, 64. A remarkably fine fall of the Ure, called Aysgarth force, is adjacent. The river flows in a narrow channel over a rugged bed of limestone, between picturesquely wooded banks; and makes a series of cascades which are variously grand or beautiful according to the fluctuations of its volume. “In floods it is a great, a mighty river, burst ing with a prodigious effect-through magnificent rocks; but in droughts, only a few gentle rills, the tears of the Naiads, run over the ledges of limestone.” The parish church, an ancient structure, restored in 1536, by the last abbot of Jervaux, and containing a splendid carved wooden screen which belonged to Jervaux abbey, occupies a finely picturesque site above the rapids. A bridge of a single arch, 71 feet in span, stands immediately above the falls, and commands a fine view of the church and the river. Another waterfall, called Foss Gill, occurs in Bishopdale. The parish is identical, in extent and statistics, with the district. See Askrigg. Real property, £48,454. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £137. Patron, Trinity college, Cambridge. The p. curacies of Askrigg, Hawes, Stalling-Busk, and Hardrow-with-Lunds, are separate charges. An endowed school has £65, and other charities £107.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

Aysgarth, a parish and township in the wapentake of Hang-west, north riding, Yorkshire; 9 miles west from Middleham. It includes the townships of High and Low Abbotside, Askrigg, Aysgarth, Bainbridge. Bishop-Dale, Burton with Walden, Caperby, Newbiggin, Thoralby, and Thornton-Rust, with the chapelry of Hawes. Living, a discharged vicarage formerly in the archd. of Richmond and dio. of Chester, now in the dio. of Ripon; rated at £19 6s. 8d., and in the parliamentary returns at £122 11s. 10d.; gross income £143; in the patronage of Trinity college, Cambridge. The Society of Friends have a meeting-house here. The village stands on the river Ure, near a remarkably fine waterfall, called Aysgarth force. At this place, the whole waters fall over a rugged limestone rock into a narrow channel, and form a succession of picturesque waterfalls. Immediately above them is a bridge of a single arch, span 71 feet, from which the view is very delightful. This parish is 25 miles in length, and nearly half as many in breadth. There are daily schools in all the townships. Pop. of the township, in 1801, 268; in 1831, 332. Houses 69. Acres 1,220. A.P. £1,013. Poor rates, in 1837, £168. Pop. of the parish, in 1831, 5,796. Houses 1,219. Acres 79,980.

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Yore Mill, Aysgarth Falls The mill has had an interesting history, starting life in the 18th Century as a cotton mill, then later as a woollen mill, corn mill and sawmill. The red flannel cloth for the shirts of Garibaldi’s army is said to have been made here. Gordon Hatton / Yore Mill, Aysgarth Falls / CC BY-SA 2.0

Addleborough Hill

The New Yorkshire Gazetteer 1828

Addleborough Hill, N. R. (1) a hamlet in the township of Bainbridge, parish of Aysgarth, wapentake of Hang West, 9 miles W. from Middleham.

Source: The New Yorkshire Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary; Stephen Reynolds Clarke; London 1828.

High Abbotside

Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845

Abbot-Side, High, a township, in the parish of Aysgarth, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York, 1¼ mile (N.W. by W.) from Hawes; containing, with the chapelries of Hardraw and Helbeck-Lunds and the hamlets of Cotterdale, Fosdale, Litherskew, Sedbusk, Shaw, and Simonstone, 574 inhabitants. The two townships of Abbot-Side received their names from the monks of Jervaulx abbey, who had a settlement and considerable property in the district. This township, which comprises by computation 13,000 acres, is altogether wild and mountainous, and consists of moors, dales, and ravines; it is rich in springs, waterfalls, rocks and caves, and a variety of interesting natural curiosities; and the magnificent cataract called Hardraw Scarr, 102 feet in height, with its stupendous rocks and romantic caves, and the elevation of Shunner Fell, 2329 feet above the level of the sea, and commanding extensive views of several counties, are both situated in the township. The river Ure, on which are several beautiful waterfalls, rises at the head of the valley. A rentcharge of £163 has been awarded to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a commutation in lieu of the impropriate tithes.

Low Abbotside

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

Abbotside (Low), a township in Aysgarth parish, separated from High Abbotside by Whitfield gill, in which, about 5 miles lower down the dale than Hardraw force, mentioned in the preceding article, is the picturesque waterfall called Whitfield force. Pop., in 1801, 235; in 1831, 173. Houses 40. Acres 4,360. A. P. £1,294, Poor rates, in 1837, £188. Here is an alms-house for six poor women, inhabitants of the townships of Askrigg and Low Abbotside, who receive a stipend of £10 per annum each. — Not far from this place, and close to Meerbeck, Dr Whitaker informs us, is the original site of Jervaulx abbey.

Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845

Abbot-Side, Low, a township, in the parish of Aysgarth, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York; containing, with the hamlets of Grange, Bowbridge, Helme, and Shawcote, 166 inhabitants. This place is on the north side of the river Ure, and comprises by computation about 5,000 acres of land: Whitfield Gill, in which is the picturesque waterfall called Whitfield Force, separates the township from that of Askrigg. Here the monks of Jervaulx abbey were first seated, and afterwards maintained a cell. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £42, payable to Trinity College, Cambridge. Two poor Widows of the place, and four others from Askrigg, are eligible to the almshouses at Grange, founded and endowed by Christopher Alderson, in 1807.

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